American Cookery by an American Orphan

Description

Sponsors

This item is a part of the 1812 History digitization project. This project was made possible with the support of the Department of Canadian Heritage through the Canadian Culture Online Strategy.

Media Type

Text

Item Type

Books

Description

The American Cookery by an American Orphan is a cook book that is approximately 48 pages of recipes on how to prepare food ranging from meat to biscuits to jellies.

It is possible that this is a later edition of Amelia Simmons. American Cookery. Hartford: Hudson & Goodwin, 1796. American Cookery was the first printed cookbook written by an American, and the first cookery title in which the word "American" appears. Amelia Simmons was known to describe herself as "an American Orphan".

This publication is addressed specifically to orphans and others of "unfortunate circumstances" who "are reduced to the necessity of going into families in the line of domestics." While borrowing a few recipes from English works, most of American Cookery was an original compilation; thoroughly American in spirit and couched in the language Simmons's compatriots could understand. In its pages appeared the first recipes using corn meal as the basic ingredient, as well as earthy and vernacular directions for brewing spruce beer and soft American gingerbread. Molasses took the place of the European treacle, and Indian slapjacks replaced the Scottish griddlecakes. For the first time recipes appeared for wild turkey roasts, pumpkin pies, cranberry sauce, and watermelon-rind chutney. At the same time, some favored European ingredients were shunned: "Garlicks, tho' used by the French, are better adapted to the uses of medicine than cookery." Within months of its appearance, the original edition was heavily oversubscribed. The work quickly attaining a popularity which kept it continuously in print, through dozens of improved and expanded editions, well into the 1830s.
From: http://www.lib.udel.edu/ud/spec/exhibits/american.html

Size: 12cm x 7cm

Publisher

John Holbrook

Place of Publication

Battleborough

Pagination

p. 48

Date of Publication

1819

Subject(s)

Cookery
War of 1812
Recipe
War of 1812- Domestic Life
Simmons, Amelia
American Cookery

Local identifier

985.5.557

Language of Item

English

Geographic Coverage

Niagara-on-the-Lake

Ontario, Canada

Latitude: 43.2483287171051 Longitude: -79.0806198120117

Copyright Statement

Protected by copyright: Uses other than research or private study require the permission of the rightsholder(s). Responsibility for obtaining permissions and for any use rests exclusively with the user.

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